BJP to Announce UP CM, Take Charge of Uttarakhand

Fri, 17 Mar 2017 11:54:27 IST

The suspense over who will be the next Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand continues as the BJP yet to reveal the names, but has fixed March 18 for the swearing-in ceremony in the hill state.

All of the 312 MLAs of the party and 12 MLAs from allies will meet at 5 pm to pick the next Chief Minister of the state.

Senior party leaders Venkaiah Naidu and Bhupendra Yadav will be flown in as "special observers" for the meeting. State BJP President Keshav Prasad Maurya was ruled out of the reckoning after party chief Amit Shah had said, "Keshav jiska naam tay karenge, uspe mohar laga denge (We will give our stamp of approval to anyone who's name Keshav decides on)."

In Uttarakhand, the party is gearing up for the swearing-in of the new government on Saturday. Uttarakhand BJP chief Ajay Bhatt said the oath taking has been fixed for 3 pm. "The name of the new Chief Minister and the ministers is yet to be declared, but preparations are underway," he said.

All 57 newly elected legislators of the BJP have been asked to come to the state capital between Friday and Saturday to take part in the swearing-in, which is likely to be a grand affair as the party has swept back to power after five years with a landslide majority.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah along with select ministers from the Union government and central office bearers are likely to be present at the oath-taking ceremony.